Daily Devotional For Friday, May 1, 2026
Good day Southside! Today’s devotional comes from 2 Samuel 21:1:
“There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the LORD about it. And the LORD said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites” (NLT).
2 Samuel 21:1-14 is one of the hardest and most challenging sections of Scripture to read in the whole Bible. It reveals to the reader some horrible events that took place during the time of David’s reign as king. The challenge is not in understanding what is being said, but in accepting the how and the why of God’s purpose, will and role in this.
Most of us today are familiar with the atrocities of war. We have been educated in the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, the holocaust of 6 million Jews, the evil of child abuse, and the suffering of poverty. We hear or see these almost daily in our media. But for many people, they ask, “Since God is all-powerful, why does He allow such evil in this world to do so much damage?” Many have become agnostic and even an atheist over such atrocities. Since God is good – perfectly good – and a heavenly Father, how could He tolerate such evil under His reign.
There are no easy answers here. Atheism rejects a belief in the existence of a good God and then replaces that rejection with a subjective definition of goodness. If God does not exist, and goodness is pure personal opinion, then evil is just a fact of reality rather than a problem. Most of us want an all-powerful, righteous God to intervene and defeat evil with His wrath. As we read 2 Samuel 21, we learn that God tells David that there was a connection between the famine and “bloodguilt” of Saul. As we read this chapter, it explains what the bloodguilt of Saul was – he had killed Gibeonites. The people of Israel had taken an oath not to ever do this.
The Bible tells us that the Gibeonites were actually survivors of the Canaanite people, who were supposed to have been killed by Joshua and the Hebrews when they conquered the land. The Gibeonites had feared the Hebrews and convinced them they were not Canaanites, but only visitors to the land. They begged Joshua and the Hebrews not to kill them. Joshua failed to inquire from the Lord and took their word as face value and made a promise to them (Joshua 9:14-15). You can read the whole story in Joshua 9:3-27.
Once Joshua and the Hebrews learned they had been lied to, they felt it was more important to honor the oath than to kill the Gibeonites for lying about their ancestry (Joshua 9:19-20). The Gibeonites were right to fear God’s wrath against the Canaanites (which included them) and not to join forces against Joshua and the Hebrews. Because the Gibeonites did not join other kings and their nations against Joshua and the Hebrews, they were spared and shown mercy.
God did not tell David what to do. So, David went straight to the remaining survivors of the Gibeonites to get information from them. It is clear that David wanted to atone for the sin of Saul in slaughtering the Gibeonites after an oath was made not to kill them. As we read in this chapter, the Gibeonites make it clear that no amount of money, gold or silver could ever undo what had been done. In the Old Testament Mosaic Law, God had a provision for compensation for the taking of innocent life (Ex. 21:23; Lev. 24:21-22; & Deut. 19:21). Instead, they proposed to David that the remaining male descendants of Saul should be put to death to atone for the sin of Saul. David agreed. The place was selected – Saul’s hometown of Gibeah and the Gibeonites said this would be an atonement “before the Lord” (2 Samuel 21:9) as Samuel had executed Agag before the Lord and Saul. Why Saul’s hometown? Because Saul had slaughtered most of the Gibeonites in their hometown. They chose to atone for Saul’s sin by killing his sons in Saul’s own hometown.
The challenge here is that these descendants of Saul are innocent of the sin of Saul. They did not break the oath made between Israel and the Gibeonites, Saul did on his own. David’s willingness to agree to this must not be seen as an act of obedience to the Lord. David relied on the Mosaic Law for guidance. He is “caught in a pickle” so to speak.
Up to this point, David had done nothing to harm or kill anyone in the house of Saul, not even Saul when he had the opportunity. So, now David had the impossible task of keeping his oath to protect the house of Saul (1 Sam. 18:3; 1 Sam. 20:42; 1 Sam. 23:18; & 1 Sam. 24:21-22) and satisfying the legitimate demands of the Gibeonites. David chose to spare Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul” and kept his word (2 Sam. 21:7).
David was simply trying to fix a wrong done in the past. I think David struggled with this as well. He knew he was sending 7 innocent men to their death for the sin of Saul. It is possible David’s decision to give them a decent burial was his means to make up for what he had done. David was caught in the middle. Oaths dating back 300 years had been broken and oaths David had made to protect the house of Saul had been made by him in his time. What should he do and how should he correct this wrong, sin and in justice?
If we do not read this story correctly, we will assume that the death of Saul’s son was God’s requirement to compensate for Saul’s sins against the Gibeonites. That is not what the biblical text tells us. It is clear that God did not answer the prayers to end the famine until David had dealt with Saul, Jonathan and the seven who had been executed. It seems God did not end the famine until sometime in the future.
It seems that God did not lift the famine until David had shown compassion to and honor towards Saul, Jonathan and the seven who had been executed.God answered the prayer for the land when and how he chose to do so, not because of something King David did.
This passage reminds us of the dangerous and horrible consequences that happen when we do not seek the Lord’s guidance in our decisions. Joshua failed to ask the Lord. David did not ask the Lord. Both just reacted and the rest is history. This passage also reminds us not to credit or blame God for things He had no part in at all. When our rationale will not give us an answer we can live with, we tend to blame God – “Well, it must have been God’s will.”
If someone is riding a motorcycle at 110 mph down College Road and they hit a vehicle and go flying through the air, is that God’s will? It all depends. If you mean it was God’s will for the laws of physics, gravity, inertia, and impact function as God designed, then those acting in accordance to God's design was God’s will. If you mean it was God’s will for that motorcyclist to die that day in that manner was God’s will, I would be very careful to blame God for that death. Was God to blame that 3,000 Americans died on 911? Is God to blame for every aborted baby when He has the power to stop all abortions? When bad things happen, we always look to someone or something to blame. All the sin and evil in this world comes from the devil and us. That is where the blame should go.
Reflection Assignment: Have you ever been asked to fix a wrong you had nothing to do with in your life? If so, what was your response? Had Joshua inquired of the Lord as to what to do with the Gibeonites some 300 years earlier, it would have prevented David from being in this pickle. Do you seek the Lord’s guidance in your major decisions? Why or why not? Or, do you just decide and live with the fallout?
Scripture To Meditate On: Romans 5:6-11, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. (7) Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. (8) But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (9) And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. (10) For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. (11) So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I have been reminded today to seek Your guidance in major decisions. Please forgive me when I live independent of You. Please forgive me when I think, “If it is to be, it is up to me!” Lord, I will trust You and seek Your will in my life. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly